Harold Bradley, Hall of Fame country music guitarist, dead at 93

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Guitarist Harold Bradley of Owen Bradley's Studio, here in the studio May 10, 1961, is one of six local musicians taking part in a demonstration of Nashville's music as a part of the upcoming Nashville Arts Festival. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Guitarist Harold Bradley of Owen Bradley's Studio, here in the studio May 10, 1961, is one of six local musicians taking part in a demonstration of Nashville's music as a part of the upcoming Nashville Arts Festival. Joe Rudis / The Tennessean

Harold Bradley, left, and another guitar player prepare for star singer Patti Page's first Nashville recording session Nov. 15, 1961. Page is here for four days of recording at Owen Bradley's studio. Gerald Holly / The Tennessean

Harold Bradley, left, representing Nashville's recording musicians, smiles as George Cooper, president of Local 257 of the American Federation of Musicians, admires his likeness in bronze at a surprise ceremony for him at the Country Music Hall of Fame Oct. 18, 1973. The plaque was given in tribute by Nashville recording musicians and friends. Jack Corn / The Tennessean

Singer Sonny James left, and session musician Harold Bradley share a moment at Gaylord Entertainment Center Aug. 30, 2006 when it was announced that they will be officially inducted, along with singer George Strait, into the Country Music Hall of Fame Nov. 6 at the 40th Annual CMA Awards. Shelley Mays / The Tennessean

Harold Bradley waves in thanks to the crowd after playing "Lara's Theme" during the Medallion Ceremony of the Country Music Hall of Fame May 6, 2007. Honored with Bradley were Sonny James and George Strait. Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean

Charlie McCoy, left, who is being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, receives congratulations from 2006 inductee Harold Bradley during the Medallion Ceremony at the hall May 17, 2009. Mandy Lunn / The The Tennessean

Michael Janas, left, moderates a panel of the 2014 AES Nashville Lifetime Achievement Awards with Harold Bradley, Lou Bradley and Bill Halverson at the Country Music Hall of Fame June 1, 2014. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean

Harold Bradley, Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, famed guitarist and cog in the family that led the ascent of country music in Nashville, died on Thursday. He was 93.

Bradley was an original member of the famed A Team, a group of studio musicians who played for artists such as Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Loretta Lynn.

While the A Team provided the musical infrastructure for the country music industry's hit-making machine, Bradley played a crucial role in building the physical infrastructure for Nashville's Music Row. Along with his brother, Bradley constructed the Quonset Hut, which was the first recording studio built on Music Row. Years later, he developed RCA Studio A.

As a rhythm guitarist, Bradley popularized the six-string, tic-tac style of playing.

Later in his career, Bradley became a prominent advocate for musicians, leading the local chapter of the musicians union.

Bradley's daughters confirmed his death in a post on his Facebook page. They said he died peacefully in his sleep.

"Many of you know him as a successful musician and no doubt many stories will be told in the coming week," his daughters said in the post. "But to us, his greatest accomplishment was being the best dad in the world. We love you, dad."

Shaping the 'Nashville sound'

Bradley was a local kid. He grew up in Nashville and took up the banjo as his first instrument. His older brother Owen Bradley, who also earned enshrinement in the Country Music Hall of Fame for his work as a producer and executive, convinced Harold to try the guitar as well.

By accepting his brother's advice, Bradley would help reshape the future of country music. Bradley's rhythm guitar work was featured on iconic songs by superstar artists. Eddy Arnold, Brenda Lee and Ray Price were among the country stars whose albums featured Bradley.

Bradley's guitar was recorded on seminal hits such as "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette, Cline's "Crazy" and Roger Miller's "King of the Road."

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Harold Bradley waves in thanks to the crowd after playing "Lara's Theme" during the Medallion Ceremony of the Country Music Hall of Fame May 6, 2007. Honored with Bradley were Sonny James and George Strait.(Photo11: Shauna Bittle / The Tennessean)

Lloyd Green, the renowned pedal steel player, collaborated with Bradley on thousands of records. Green said Bradley’s legacy as a guitarist will be his role in improving and modernizing the “Nashville sound” of country music in the 1950s and 1960s.

Green said Bradley's six-string, tic-tac style, which accentuated the bass line in a song, became a widely imitated style of playing guitar. In a 2013 interview with NPR, Bradley described his style this way:

"Well, it's a six-string bass guitar," he said. "The bottom four strings are just like the bass but it has two additional strings on top. And I really made a lot of money with it. I'm not going to give any money back."

Green recalled Bradley as a consummate professional, who showed up on time, didn’t drink or smoke and treated the artists he supported with respect. Ever able to sense the mood of a room, if the session called for Bradley to keep his head down and play the chords, he could do that.

If the record needed improvisation and imagination, Bradley could do that too.

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“When this group of players, the original A Team, came along, that was a light-year leap in the sound and technical ability of the musicians and Harold was right in the middle of all that,” Green said.

'An eloquent advocate'

In addition to his musical accomplishments, Bradley was a successful business man, studio manager and music industry advocate. He was the first president of the Nashville chapter of the recording academy and later led the local chapter of the musicians union.

He joined the union as a teenager after playing a gig at a club on Demonbreun Avenue called the White Horse.

"Well, I had a cousin who was a piano player and he came over to my house one Saturday night when I was 15," Bradley recalled in a 2002 interview with The Tennessean. "He said (to my mother), 'I won't let him have anything but Coke; I'll take good care of him.' And so she said OK.

"So I went over and played and it was a lot of fun with some good musicians, and then my brother said, 'Well if you're going to do that, you've got to join the union."

Not only did Bradley join the union at at 16, he went on to lead it as president, which was a tremendous adjustment.

"Once I became president, I hid under the desk for three years and they'd bring me in food and water and slide it under there, and every once in a while they'd say, 'You've got to come out,'" Bradley said in the interview. "And so I'd come out and do my best to try to solve whatever happened. It was traumatic because I'd been working for myself since I was 15 and all of a sudden I'm working for about 3,000 people."

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Under Bradley, the union advocated for fair wages, pension funds and other benefits for working musicians. While he was a fierce advocate for his fellow musicians, Bradley also helped plant the seeds for perhaps the world's most famous music business district, Music Row.

“He and his older brother Owen were versatile visionaries who played a huge role in developing the culture of respect for creators that helped Nashville become Music City,” Nashville musicians union president Dave Pomeroy said. “Harold was vice president emeritus of the American Federation of Musicians, and was an eloquent advocate for Nashville musicians, both locally and worldwide. We are grateful for his many contributions.”

Because of his accomplishments as a musician, business person and advocate, Bradley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, becoming the first musician to earn that honor.

"For decades, Harold Bradley went to work doing something that he called 'playing.' He surveyed every sonic situation and determined what he could do to make things better, more melodic and more harmonious," Hall of Fame CEO Kyle Young said. "There are lessons in Harold's approach to playing that go far beyond music. He lived his life with kindness, gentility and discretion. On hopeful days, I will try to view Harold Bradley as an inspiration and not an aberration."

Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.